More casting for Kay Mellor`s tour of Fat Friends the Musical starring Lee Mead

 

Following a highly successful sell-out tour in 2017, producer Joshua Andrews is delighted to announce that Kay Mellor’s smash hit FAT FRIENDS THE MUSICAL will return to tour the UK and Ireland opening at Dartford Orchard Theatre on 14 January 2022.

With original music by Nicholas Lloyd Webber, the show will star Lee Mead as Kevin (Kelly's fiancé, a big lad but not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he's lovable and adores Kelly) who will be joined by Jessica Ellis as Kelly Stevenson (Big, bubbly, bride to be, works in her dad's fish and chip shop.), Sherrie Hewson as Julia Fleshman (Ambitious slimming guru, media savvy, business woman. A bit of a bitch), Les Dennis as Fergus (Kelly's dad, runs a fish and chip shop in Headingley, loves his family but is not without a few worries), Marc Akinfolarin as Alan (Ambulance driver, loves his food, struggles with his weight, good hearted, solid man.) and Alex May-Roberts as Val (Works for local TV, and has recently replaced men for chocolate! Has put on nearly 2 stone) with more casting news to follow.

Lee Mead is a much loved actor of stage and screen. Having won the nations hearts when they voted him their Joseph in BBC One’s ‘Any Dream Will Do’, Lee has gone on to star in the West End in ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’, ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Wicked’ before establishing himself as a TV favourite on ‘Casualty’ and then ‘Holby City’ in the role of Lofty.

 
Sherrie Hewson is probably best known as the iconic Maureen Holdsworth in ITV’s ‘Coronation Street’ and Joyce Temple-Savage in six series of ‘Benidorm’. Her other TV credits include ‘Russ Abbot’s Madhouse’ and ten years as the comedy cornerstone of ‘Loose Women’. No stranger to the stage, her many theatre credits include ‘Stepping Out’, ‘Billy Liar’, ‘Run For Your Wife’ and ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’.

 
Jessica Ellis played Tegan Lomax in Channel 4’s ‘Hollyoaks’ for five years. She most recently filmed the feature film ‘Catherine Called Birdy’, written and directed by Lena Dunham. She has appeared on stage in ‘Bedroom Farce’ at Theatre by the Lake and in three Old Vic New Voices productions in New York.  Fat Friends marks her musical theatre debut.

 
Les Dennis most recently starred as Wilbur in ‘Hairspray’ opposite Michael Ball at the London Coliseum. His other West End credits include Amos Hart in ‘Chicago’ and Bill in ‘Me and My Girl’. His touring theatre credits include ‘Art’, ‘Legally Blonde’, ‘High School Musical 2’ and Uncle Fester in the musical comedy ‘The Addams Family’.  His many TV credits include Michael Rodwell in ‘Coronation Street’ and a fictional version of himself in ‘Extras’.